M78 taken from my Creedmoor observatory 01042022. Messier 78 (M78) is a reflection nebula located in the northern constellation Orion, the Hunter. M78 is the brightest diffuse reflection nebula in the sky. It has an apparent magnitude of 8.3 and lies at an approximate distance of 1,600 light years from Earth. It has the designation NGC 2068 in the New General Catalogue.